Several online services offering free access to music and videos

STREAMING:IT'S NOT all about the downloads. There are several streaming services available online that offer users free access to music for the inconvenience of a few ads, or a small subscription fee every month to unlock a few extras.

Last.fm

(www.lastfm.com)

Last.fm has somewhat of a cult following. The site is essentially an online music catalogue, and offers free streaming for music and videos, with extras such as photos, lyrics and artist biographies, thrown in for good measure.

Last FM uses a music recommendation system known as Audioscrobbler that allows it to build profiles of its users’ musical preferences. It logs details of the tracks listened to on its streamed radio stations, or through its software download, on a users PC, and is displayed on individual users’ profile pages. Free accounts allow users to create their own music profiles, which Last.fm compiles from a number of sources, including the internet radio stations. Subscribers get extras such as custom user playlists. Subscriptions cost €2.50 per month.

Blip FM

(www.blip.fm)

Blip FM operates in a similar manner to Last.fm, with streaming radio stations created by users according to their musical tastes. It has been described as the Twitter for music lovers. Users search out songs to add to their own DJ station and get “props” for their musical choices, so there is mutual backslapping all round.

You can build playlists, listen to a continuous stream of music and interact with other Blip users. Best of all, it’s free.

Muzu.tv

(www.muzu.tv)

Irish-based Muzu.tv has been doing some growing lately.

The online video platform has added some major labels to its service, with Sony BMG and EMI both signing up. Beggars Group, which covers XL Recordings, 4AD, Matador Records and Rough Trade, added its name to Muzu in January, while Cooking Vinyl came on board late last month.

The service works on a simple basis. It allows users to build their own playlists and TV channels with videos of their favourite artists. The service is free for viewers.

YouTube

(www.youtube.ie)

Love it or hate it, YouTube has become a firm favourite of the web-savvy. If you can wade through the thousands of home-made videos, there are plenty of music videos to be viewed free of charge. However, with copyright infringement high on the list of priorities for both labels and platforms, videos can be removed at a moment’s notice.

Labels are coming around to the idea of YouTube and the possibilities it presents. Universal is one of the labels that has found a use for video streaming; in 2008 it was predicted to get nearly $100 million in revenue from streaming videos online – most of that was expected to come from YouTube.

MySpace Music

(music.myspace.com)

The popular social networking site has also found a foothold in streaming music. The free service streamed one billion tracks in a matter of days after its launch. It offers music videos, free downloads, featured artists and exclusive albums to users.